CHALLACON

Personality and e-Learning: Can Just Anyone Learn Effectively?

Having worked in the e-Learning field for over 15 years, I have heard dozens of students tell me “I’m just not a computer person” or “I learn best when I am in a classroom”. Or, maybe “I love PowerPoint-based lectures”. Actually, I haven’t had any student tell me the last statement, but you get the point: Many students are intimidated by using computers and technology.

Dr. Casteel’s (2016) dissertation describes research into personality and transactional distance. Michael Moore’s (1993) Transactional Distance Theory focuses on the distance-learning environment and the three learner interactions that occur: learner and instructor, between learners, and between the learner and the content. Among the various measures utilized to evaluate transaction distance is the Structure Component Evaluation Tool (SCET). This rating tool has learners evaluate the content, syllabus, schedule, delivery, and the interactions. Casteel (2016) used the SCET along with a five-factor personality measure.

The five factor personality model (FFM) is probably the most ubiquitous personality measures used today (see my dissertation if you want some more details). The FFM sums personality on five dimensions or traits: Agreeableness; Conscientiousness; Extraversion; Neuroticism; and Openness to New Experiences. There are dozen of measures—both free and paid—that evaluate the FFM (check one out here).

In his research, Casteel (2016) found both Openness to New Experiences and Extroversion were positively correlated with SCET scores. As the strength of these personality traits increased, the transactional distance decreased. In a way, these results are suggesting that individuals with stronger Openness and Extraversion scores may be better prone to learning effectively through e-Learning.

Interestingly, I was unable to find many other studies examining personality and e-learning specifically. In Nakayama et al. (2007), the researchers found Conscientiousness was strongly related to the number of e-learning modules the sample of graduate students completed; however, the researchers did not provide any other information related to this relationship. Another study (Helle et al., 2010) found higher Conscientiousness and lower Openness to New Experiences scores were associated with better performance in a microscopic pathology class.

From other personality literature, it would definitely appear higher Conscientiousness (or a personal awareness behavior impacts others around them) would be a good indicator of e-Learning success. An individual with lower Neuroticism would be more ideal, especially since they would not be able to misinterpret email or asynchronous communication. Higher Agreeableness would be better, as the individual would go along with the e-Learning plan. And, I actually believe higher Openness to New Experiences would be useful for a person who is new to or transitioning to e-Learning. As far as Extraversion, an individual with higher Extraversion will be more likely to connect with the instructor and other learners vs. someone with lower Extraversion.

At present, there is not a ideal personality type for e-Learners. The research field is not clear on the findings, perhaps because there are too many other factors contributing to learning success than personality. What do you think?

Using Cognitive Hacks for eLearning

I remember the first time I heard someone speaking a language other than English. I was eight years old. My family and I were visiting Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza, and we had stopped by the Classic Cup Café to have a refreshment. As we sat together on the patio, I heard the people at the table next to me speaking a different language. I loved that experience.

As I studied other languages, I have often used the Pimsleur method since I have had great success with this program. One of the secrets to Paul Pimsleur’s methods is that he designed the courses to include cognitive shortcuts in order to maximize retention. These shortcuts can be utilized in any form of education, including eLearning.

Among the many techniques or hacks people can use to better remember information is spacing. Spacing utilizes “spaced” repetition in order to achieve maximized memorization. Instead of focusing on the same concept/topic/idea for a set period of time (e.g., rout memory), you would focus on the subject then focus on something else. After a set period of time, you would need to recall the previous information.

I utilize spacing when I am designing fact-heavy material. For example, as I design training on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), I will present a fact (e.g., “HIPAA was enacted in 1996 and provides data privacy for safeguarding medical information”), move on to something else (e.g., my company has a 99.97% HIPAA compliance rate; there are various HIPAA additional rules including the Privacy Rule and HITECH; etc.), and then focus back on the original information in the form of a short survey question. I will continue doing this until I get to the end of the module, in which I will have a graded measure. Typically, learners will do well on this measure due to the spacing of information.

Another hack I use in complex topics involves the elearner to “train” someone else. This hack promotes information retrieval. While it is easier to do in a classroom or lecture-based course, there are some interesting ways to do this in instructional design. I prefer to have the learner write out the main components or learning objectives in a way that a 5-year old could understand it. This focuses the learner to engage with their creative faculties. This can be challenging for many, but it does go to demonstrate if the learning objectives have been met. What I have done in the past is for the learner to write their answer in a private forum. After I review/grade it, I then make it public for other learners in the class to see.

There are so many other cognitive hacks that can be used. What have you had success with?

Brainstorming in the Private Sector: Using CIA Tradecraft in Real Life Scenarios

Most of us in the learning development world either fall directly under Human Resources (HR) or have a tenuous connection to this department. For me, I am directly under the HR Director. This allows me to better function as I have a support system of HR professionals behind me. It also provides me the opportunity to strategize with them on organizational concerns.

At the beginning of the 2019, we in HR were asked to outline new ways to 1) decrease turnover and 2) identify measurable goals for 2019. For the last six months or more, I have been looking for interesting ways to incorporate my former experience and education into the private sector. CIA’s Tradecraft primer has over a dozen analytical techniques that have potential to be utilized in private sector environments.

From the primer, brainstorming appeared to be the most logical first method on generating new ideas. It is tagged as “an unconstrained group process designed to generate new ideas and concepts” (pg. 27). The guide further outlines several suggestions:

1. Everyone is equal in this process.

2. Attempt to remove any biases or long held assumptions.

3. Prohibit nay-saying.

4. Schedule the exercise between 60 to 90 minutes.

5. Visibly record the ideas.

6. Include an “outsider” to the process.

I scheduled out 60 minutes (#4) on everyone’s calendar. I provided some relevant background on the brainstorming process to our CEO’s administrative assistant (#6), who also agreed to take notes (#5) and moderate (#3). The HR team has always functioned as a team (#1) and we did not already have any significant biases (#2) on these topics. Here is how it worked:

The first topic involved examining how the company can reduce turnover. Some of the major points were to provide future/new employees with more information in order for them to better understand the job before beginning; help managers become better leaders; conduct follow-up with new employees after several weeks on the job; and, standardize team processes

The next portion involved creating measurable strategic goals for the year. As HR, we do not often have the ability to measure output like operations does. However, we did come up with several suggestions, including a check-in for new employees; training for managers; and offering professional etiquette courses.

While this was our first time using the structured brainstorming approach, I have worked with smaller groups to do this for developing out learning objectives or novel training approaches. The possibilities are endless.

Have you or your company ever used brainstorming to come up with some ideas? How did it work for you?

3 Tricks to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome in Instructional Design

Have you heard of imposter syndrome? Originally coined by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978 (Clance, 1985), the term describes the self-doubt that they are underqualified. People experiencing the imposter syndrome often feel they do not deserve the respect or recognition they receive. Instead of attributing success to knowledge or skill, these individuals incorrectly attribute it to good timing or luck. The imposter syndrome was originally thought to only occur in women, but researchers have found these feelings also impact men at equivalent rates.

Self-doubt is hard to overcome. (pixabay)

For many instructional designers or learning/development professionals, we often utilize our own knowledge, understanding, and experiences to build out courses and lessons. We may not be experts in project management or performance management, but we are able to leverage our understanding to make these subjects trainable. Many of us also must train others in person or online. While we may be subject matter experts, our knowledge does not always prevent us from feeling underqualified.

These self-doubts may manifest themselves when in the planning phases for instructional projects. We may often over prepare for meetings with experts, stakeholders, or clients. We may mentally rehearse our response when someone asks about our credentials or challenges our design methodology. It can be overwhelming.

So, how do you overcome these feelings? Here are three tricks to overcome the imposter syndrome.

Authentically represent yourself and your knowledge. In Hamlet, Polonius says “This above all: to thine own self be true…” This is great advice to follow in all aspects of your life, but especially when attempting to overcome the imposter syndrome. Whether you have a PhD or a high school diploma, you are in an instructional design role for a reason. Whatever your background or experiences, you will do better in life if you are authentic about your skillsets.

As a word of clarification: There is a phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect in which, eventually, a person with more knowledge becomes humble about their knowledge. Being humble is different than the imposter syndrome.

Have articulable backup. Having quantitative support is always better than not. Utilizing pre- and post-training measures to document improvement can showcase your instruction’s reliability. Having subject matter experts complete your training and give you critiques can increase your instruction’s validity. Knowing both and how to articulate both can be the difference between a new contract and a hard pass. This will help you demonstrate your worth when faced with imposter syndrome doubts.

Utilize your support network. We all have both friends and colleagues. Use them. If you are really having a bad day or really being impacted by doubts, talk to them. Their encouragement is often what is needed to help you overcome these fears.

Have you experienced imposter syndrome before? How did you handle it?

How to Failsafe Your Core Training

Have you ever been in this situation? Last Monday, a new employee started with the company. My colleague who usually conducts the first-day onboarding was out of town, so I was filling in for him. The morning goes by great. The new employee onboards in our payroll system, which, consequently, doubles as our learning management system (LMS). I hop into the LMS administration portal to assign her the new hire courses, but she is not there. I wait for a few minutes, but still does not show up. Finally, I call our vendor and find out the LMS cloud provider is having trouble. Any new users in our system will not show up until the LMS system is working properly. My usually stress-free Monday suddenly changes.

I’m sure I am not the only person to be the victim of an LMS system glitch. While we would like to believe that everything will work exactly how it is supposed to work, that is not always the case. Hard drives die. Systems fail. Power outages occur.

In my former life, I traveled around the country providing trainings for various groups. I requested these training venues to have certain computer and A/V setups. Sometimes these requests were not honored. I prepared ahead of time.

When it comes to SaaS and cloud-based LMSs, we often do not have a backup plan if something fails. Here are three ways to failsafe your core training:

1. Build a repository of your SCORM and TINCAN files. This is so simple, yet can be daunting is a company has more than one content or instructional developers. I suggest this as an industry best practice. At my current company, we use a shared network drive with backups for every course we have created in our LMS.

Having a repository of SCORM courses can serve as a quick backup plan. You can easily unpack the ZIP file and access the web-based launcher (often named story.html) if the LMS fails. In my recent scenario, this is exactly what I did. While I was not able to get an accurate time for course completion, I was able to document the new employee’s score for the core curriculum. Being able to access these backup ZIP files helped save the day.

2. Curate print-out or PDF archives of the learning content. This is something I learned when I worked for a nonprofit and needed to document my activities. Having a PDF copy of the LMS can be invaluable, especially if you may have to use it to conduct the training off the printouts. This is also a best practice for instructional design creation, as I find I like to printout and review/edit content by hand.

I also do this for any presentation that I am going to give. I have been saved many times from technological failures by having print-outs of PDFs of my learning content. It is also useful to do this when you are conducting hybrid training, as you can write notes or comments on your printouts.

3. Design a CD of your core curriculum courses. Instructional design programs like Articulate provide the publishing capabilities for CD creation. While CDs are nearly obsolete, most Windows-based computers have a CDROM disk drive. And, of course, this medium and it being ubiquitous will pay for itself if your computer or network drive crashes. The other, more millennial way of doing this is to have a USB drive with the complete course content.

“I love it when a plan comes together” – Hannibal Smith, The A-Team

Having a plan before a technological failure is the key for success. You can rest easier if you have one or two guaranteed failsafe methods. Of course, you also want to ensure you have the learning objectives and other course components documented elsewhere. It is great to have a backup of your content someplace, but it will not be as useful if you do not know which course trains which subjects/objectives.

What about you? Do you use another method to failsafe your core curriculum?